South African laws on environmental protection is lauded as one of the best in the world. Since the promulgation of the National Environmental Management Air Quality Act, in November 2013, the country has taken air pollution control a step further.
Under previous laws, industries paid more attention to the protection of their workers and equipment from dangerous pollutants. With this new law enactment, companies are required to do more than just protect their immediate environment. Industries will be held responsible for what they release into the atmosphere.
To ensure efficient management of air pollution, the law prescribes that the emissions generated from different industrial processes need to be collected at the source. According to environmental experts, reducing pollution at source ensures a healthy working environment and reduces or even eliminates particulate emissions.
Kriel Power Station Eskom
The new requirement as stated in the Air Quality Act is more stringent. Companies are now obliged to abide by it or face serious consequences. Failure to comply to the standards as enshrined in the law will result in “penalties, company closure and, in extreme cases, imprisonment“. In an amendment to the law in Parliament in December 2013, a fine of R5 million will be charged to any company per non-compliant incident.
With all these measures put in place by the government to ensure the safety of its citizens, there is still a big challenge in enforcing compliance. Many companies still do not consider air filtration or dust collection as a core aspect of their operations. Even big sector players like Eskom, Sasol, Arcelor-Mittal and BHP Billiton have been caught for not complying with the country’s environmental regulations.
For most of these companies, the health and environmental implications of their activities can only be felt in the long term and do not have an immediate effect on the bottom line. Hence, the hesitation to jump at it. However, many experts disagree with that assertion. The benefits of air filtration in the areas of automotive, woodworking, oil production, mining, pharmaceutical, to mention a few, are well documented all over the world.
When employees’ health are protected through a clean air environment, companies can lower absenteeism rates and better productivity. That should have a direct benefit to the bottom line.
Industry experts believe that in order to ensure compliance, regulators should not leave it to companies alone to meet their obligations. Regulators must use a combination of high-handedness and persuasion. The gap between implementation and monitoring of these standards, with little to no punishment for noncompliance, should be bridged at all cost.
Written and published on behalf of Envirox
About Envirox and Nederman
In 2012 Envirox was established in Johannesburg focusing on industrial air filtration. It was during this time that Envirox acquired the Nederman distribution. Since then, Envirox has been involved in the installation of filtration systems in South Africa’s top industrial, automotive and mining companies.
Nederman was first represented in South Africa in the 1990s by the Sturrock and Robson Group (S&R). This representation started as a joint venture between the two companies and was known as Nederman South Africa.
This joint venture was later dissolved and HSE solutions was established (a division of S&R), focusing on Personal Protective Equipment. Nederman distribution remained in the S&R group and HSE became the distributor for Nederman until moving over to Envirox.
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